The Power of K-bio

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December 2019... An unknown virus spreads around the world, infecting more than 25 million people and killing some 850,000. It’s been nine months since the first case was reported, but the virus still remains strong. It’s me, COVID-19. The World Health Organization says viruses like me appear only once in a century. I spread quickly, I can mutate, and I don’t cause any symptoms at first. The very existence of an unprecedented virus like me has thrown the entire world into confusion. Countries around the world including South Korea remain on high alert as we face a second wave of the novel coronavirus. But the world refuses to just sit back and watch the pandemic unfold. The South Korean government, in particular, pledged an all-out support for the development of a vaccine and treatment to beat me.

[Soundbite]
Choi Ki-young (Minister of Science and ICT): We will provide support in terms of equipment, workforce and technology so that domestic businesses and research institutes can develop COVID-19 treatments and vaccines as soon as possible.

This place is developing a vaccine that could prevent infections caused by me. Of a wide range of vaccines, this place is developing a DNA vaccine.

[Soundbite]
Park Ji-ho (Researcher): It has turned yellow because the animal’s body fluids have acquired antibodies. The pale part was diluted more. The result is better when it’s diluted properly and the colors become diverse.

[Soundbite]
Chung Moon-seop (Research Center Chief): When a vaccine is administered, virus fragments are formed in the vaccinated part. They induce and memorize the immune response. If the virus permeates the body later, the vaccine can suppress its infectiousness from the memorized immune response.

DNA used in COVID-19 vaccines is cloned using rapidly reproducing E. coli. Unlike other vaccines, this one can be stored at room temperature for a long time and mass-produced in a short period of time.

[Soundbite]
Oh Ye-eun (Researcher): We cultivated genetically modified E.coli. Because genetic modification is not 100 percent accurate, we use a culture fluid to create colonies, which are ranked and used accordingly. This is how colonies are cultivated.

[Soundbite]
Chung Moon-seop (Research Center Chief): The DNA vaccine is not infectious because it does not contain the virus as its main ingredient. It’s appropriate for preventing infectious diseases such as COVID-19 or MERS, which have serious symptoms and high mortality rates.

Animal tests have shown that this vaccine contains a neutralizing antibody that can make me powerless. Then, how soon can people get the DNA vaccine?

[Soundbite]
Chung Moon-seop (Research Center Chief): If the clinical trials go as planned, the product will be launched by 2022 after completing stage 3 trials. If the coronavirus spirals out of control in Korea, we could request the Drug Safety Ministry to grant emergency approval in 2021 after completing stage 1 and stage 2 trials.

When new viruses like me appear, developing a vaccine is no easy task. It usually takes anywhere from five to ten years to develop an effective vaccine. Did you know that the world has yet to develop vaccines for preventing SARS, a coronavirus that occurred in 2003, and MERS, which has a mortality rate of 38 percent?

[Soundbite]
Muk Hyun-sang (Korea Drug Development Fund): Currently, three kinds of vaccines are under development in Korea. One of them is the DNA vaccine, which is being tested already. Another is a protein fusion vaccine, which is expected soon. Even if these two vaccines are developed quickly, we will probably not see any concrete results until late 2021 or early 2022.

The reason it takes so long to develop a reliable vaccine is safety concerns... because the vaccine will be administered to healthy people.

[Soundbite]
Kwon Jun-wook (Center for Disease Control and Prevention): Vaccine development must consider a number of factors and is quite unpredictable. Because vaccines are administered to healthy people, safety is even more important than effectiveness. Even if a vaccine is developed someday, finding people with certain immune responses who would agree to be vaccinated is going to be a challenge. Three companies in Korea are developing vaccines now. The goal is to verify the safety and effectiveness of their products and begin mass production by the end of 2021.

The development for COVID-19 treatments seems to be moving along faster than vaccine development.

[Soundbite]
Jung Eun-kyeong (Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Announced on July 13, 2020)): We have secured blood plasma for clinical trials and we are preparing to produce blood plasma treatment and begin clinical trials this week.

The blood plasma of people who have recovered from COVID-19 contains antibodies that can fight against me. It can help develop a treatment.

[Soundbite]
Choi Won-seok (Professor, Korea University Ansan Hospital): The blood plasma of recovered patients contains antibodies that can neutralize the virus. It can be used to treat infected patients.

The number of neutralizing antibodies in blood plasma is the highest three to four months after a person is infected. It then gradually subsidies. If you want to get rid of me as soon as possible, people between the ages of 18 and 65 who have recovered from COVID-19 should be urged to donate their blood plasma 14 days after their quarantine is lifted. The more blood plasma they donate, the sooner a treatment will be developed.

[Soundbite]
Sohn Bok-shim (Recovered from COVID-19): I waited to test negative without any special treatment. I sincerely hope a treatment will be developed soon.

So far, some two thousand people have donated their blood plasma, but the country needs much more.

[Soundbite]
Jung Eun-kyeong (Center for Disease Control and Prevention): Blood plasma donated so far was used to produce pharmaceuticals for clinical trials. Blood plasma that we will acquire later will be used to produce a treatment.

[Soundbite]
Choi Won-seok (Professor, Korea University Ansan Hospital): Antibodies lose their effectiveness with time. We need more blood donations to conduct stage 3 clinical trials and produce the actual treatment.

An interview with an expert revealed that a second-stage clinical trial will soon be conducted on 60 high-risk patients using the donated blood plasma. If the results turn out to be positive, the treatment will be commercialized as soon as possible to treat COVID-19 patients in Korea free of charge.

[Soundbite]
Muk Hyun-sang (Korea Drug Development Fund): I think the blood plasma treatment will be developed first. Some say it could be ready this year or early next year. In any case, it will probably become the first treatment.

A famous Korean TV drama that aired 4 years ago “Descendants of the Sun” introduces a
familiar terminology.

[Soundbite]
My fears have come true. (Is the immune system overreacting?) Right, it’s an immune storm.

The immune storm mentioned in the TV series is referring to the “cytokine storm.” When a virus permeates the body, its immune system begins to secrete cytokines, which attack the healthy cells as well.

[Soundbite]
Chung Min-yong (New Drug Development Team): When an unknown substance like a coronavirus enters the body, it causes an immune response called cytokine storm. This substance can suppress a cytokine storm and treat COVID-19.

The treatment developed here can suppress a cytokine storm and prevent severe sepsis by controlling inflammatory cytokines.

[Soundbite]
Kang Min-koo (Researcher at new drug developing company): We are administering a toxic substance into the lungs to induce symptoms.

When one of the two lab mice with breathing problems was administered with this treatment, its breathing returned to normal. Let’s take a look at how the lung tissues changed.

[Soundbite]
A bacterial pneumonia model shows that the lung tissues were destroyed and swollen. This part here is retaining its shape but...

[Soundbite]
There must be holes for breathing and exchanging of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
When they become blocked, it becomes hard to breathe. When the drug was administered, the holes appeared again and the blood vessels became more visible.
This means oxygen and carbon dioxide can be supplied normally.

[Soundbite]
Chung Min-yong (New Drug Development Team): Monkeys infected with a coronavirus had their oxygen saturation levels drop nearly 70 percent. They also developed difficulty breathing, increased heart rates, and elevated temperatures and sugar levels. Monkeys that were administered ICP-NI saw their oxygen saturation levels recover to 96 percent and conditions stabilized. All other symptoms also improved.

When people are developing treatments, viruses do not just watch idly. RNA viruses like me can even change shapes.

[Soundbite]
Jung Eun-kyeong (Center for Disease Control and Prevention): The mutation of the S gene makes the virus more infectious. It can easily reproduce in cells and merge with infected body parts.

I have mutated six or seven times already. Each time I change my shape, I become more infectious. Recently, I became at least six times stronger. Mutated viruses spread to different parts of the world, carried by people returning to their home countries from abroad. And each time I change forms, bio companies turn nervous. Why? Because I can make their vaccines or treatments obsolete. But humans are smart enough to create treatments that can also respond to my mutations. This place is developing cocktail antibodies for treating COVID-19.

[Soundbite]
Park Young-woo (CEO of company developing cocktail antibodies): Because the virus can change, using just one type of antibodies would have no effect. We have developed two kinds of antibodies and mixed them, hence the name “cocktail antibodies.”

This place verifies the effectiveness of antibodies.

[Soundbite]
Yoon Seon-ha (Senior Researcher): The more effective this antibody becomes, the more pale it turns out. When the color becomes less bright, it means the antibody is neutralizing the virus well. We are testing it now. The effective ones are not turning blue and remain transparent. The ones with zero effectiveness are bluish, meaning they have no neutralizing antibodies. Antibodies with strong effectiveness appear distinctly clear. That’s why we mix antibodies with different binding sites like a cocktail.

It has been six months since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. A treatment has been finally developed in Korea.

[Soundbite]
Kwon Jun-wook (Center for Disease Control and Prevention): The Drug Safety Ministry is currently deliberating 2nd, 3rd phase plans on clinical testing with the goal to mass produce a commercial antibody cure by this month.

They say that medical advances are all about fighting off viruses. When a new virus appears, people panic at first, but they eventually come out triumphant. The world is fighting a war against a novel virus like me and South Korea is at the forefront. I am going to keep my eyes on what else this country is capable of achieving.